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I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes — I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19:25–27
If you were looking for a source of spiritual uplift, the book of Job is probably not where you’d start; it’s probably not where you’d end or visit on your travels in between either, but there are some gems amongst the garbage. The text itself is a simple exaltation, but the context in which it is said makes it a bit special.
Job’s spirituality is pretty much at its lowest ebb. He has gone from being the most upstanding and devout Jew of his time (who sacrifices burnt offerings on behalf of his family just in case they have sinned) to being an outcast, shunned by his fellows and (seemingly) cursed by God for no good reason that he can discern. And then to add insult to injury, his well meaning but incredibly patronising friends decide that they’re going to help him. “All you have to do,” they tell him “is confess your sins and you’ll be forgiven.”.
Job gives them his quizzical “Don’t you think I would have done that?” look (by now it’s the tenth time of asking and they’re beginning to call him a godless fool to his face. Did I say they were his friends?), and in the depths of his suffering, to the ridicule of his colleagues and at the risk of blasphemy, he has the nerve, the sheer audacity to say that he will see God in all his glory.
If Job in his position can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the God who he thinks has cursed him to the point where he wishes he was dead, will never, ever, ever desert him; I think I can feel a little better about my pathetic little spiritual hangups.
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Last modified: 25th November 2005